subject: Save Money By Learning How To Install Kitchen Cabinets [print this page] The very first thing that I suggest that you do is familiarize yourself with the new design. Go over the drawings and visualize how the finished kitchen will look. This will help you feel more comfortable when you start with the installation. Always make sure that each and every cabinet that you hang or set is plumb and level. Please get this step right. Take your time and get it right.
Installing kitchen cabinets is more involved than what most people think. There is more to it than just drawing out lines on the wall and fastening the cabinets. Sure, you can just throw the cabinets against the wall and screw them in place, but the end result is going to look like it as well. I have had many carpenters tell me that what I did for a living was "cream work" until they actually tried to install some of the kitchens that I have installed over the years. When it came down to it, they had some serious problems and had no way of figuring out how to move ahead. Something that they quickly realized was that correctly installing the cabinets as opposed to just screwing them into place was altogether two different situations.
Now I am not saying that you need to be a seasoned professional to install kitchen cabinets, but you do need to understand at least the basics of kitchen cabinet installation if you want to tackle your own kitchen remodeling project. Making sure that the cabinets are level, plumb, and in a straight line with each other is the most important aspect to any kitchen cabinet installation.
For instance, you are going to have the countertop fabricator come out and make a template for the top and he sees that the base cabinets are not straight or even have humps and dips in between them. More than likely, the fabricator will refuse to make a template until you have fixed all of the problems. A stone counter-top fabricator will not install their product unless the cabinets are perfectly flat and level. Especially with a solid surface countertop where they are very unforgiving and a slight hump here or there will cause huge problems.
In order for everything to fall into place, your cabinets need to be installed as precisely as possible. By making costly mistakes during the installation, you are basically wasting the money that you would have saved by installing the cabinets yourself correctly.
